December Thoughts.... Using Dipsey Divers....12/12/2023

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One quick question. I have used dipsies quite a bit for salmon on Lake Michigan and we are always going over 2.5 mph. The PT App also bases their dives charts on that speed as well. Wondering if you have experimented with trolling the dipsies at slower speeds, especially as the water cools. I saw a lot of boats using Dipsies while we were in Huron this fall & wondered how fast they were trolling them that time of year as I know the slower speed will affect the depth quite a bit. Thanks again for the very informative post.

[Capt Juls]

I saw a lot of boats using Dipsies while we were in Huron this fall & wondered how fast they were trolling them that time of year as I know the slower speed will affect the depth quite a bit.

In the spring, I'll usually wait for the water to get to around 50 degrees, before experimenting with the dipsey program, so I can troll at least 1.8mph.

When running slower speeds, I just guesstimate how much deeper the dipsey is running, due to its weight, and make adjustments from there. It's certainly not scientific, and is just guesswork on my part...but, it works.

[sherman51]

One quick question. I have used dipsies quite a bit for salmon on Lake Michigan and we are always going over 2.5 mph. The PT App also bases their dives charts on that speed as well. Wondering if you have experimented with trolling the dipsies at slower speeds, especially as the water cools. I saw a lot of boats using Dipsies while we were in Huron this fall & wondered how fast they were trolling them that time of year as I know the slower speed will affect the depth quite a bit. Thanks again for the very informative post.

my speed is based on what type lures i am using. even in mid summer in the central basin with harnesses we have had days where 1.6 was our best speed, other times 2.2 worked best but our starting speed and the speed that has worked on most days is as close as we can run at 1.8.

when we run small spoos we start at 2.5 andadjust if needed. with the larger spoons we try to stay at 2.7 to 3.0 but going bup or down on speed can work if 2.7 to 3.0 isn't working for us.

as far as cranks we haven't used them that much but we do run then on our 2 downriggers with spoons on our lite bite slide divers. most of the time we stick with walleye bandits but we still try others. i did have the privalige of fishing with a guy for 3 days that ran deep husky jerks with wire. he stayed as close to 2.7 as he could. we didn't leave the docks until after 8:00 each morning. the first 2 days we were back in with our 12 good fish before noon. on the 3rd and last day it felt more like work than play just reeling in fish and resetting lines. the action never slowed. we had our 12 plus an extra 3 before we could clear lines 45 minutes after our 1st line was set. we never never had all 6 lines set at the same time that morning. he did run 2 other cranks but right now i cant remember what they were.